Why do we take writing so seriously, and how can writers reinvent literary forms and the literary means of production? Why, after all, do writers only write books? Alain de Botton and Adam Thirlwell come to the ICA to sketch out a utopian project for new discoveries in literature.

Alain de Botton is novelist, writer and essayist on subjects including love, architecture, travel, philosophy and literature, and is currently writing a book about the modern workplace. Adam Thirlwell is the author of the novel Politics and Miss Herbert, a new book about novels.